Lucio Tan firm bares 7 projects

Balabac Resources & Holdings Co. Inc. — soon to become the Lucio Tan Group of Companies’ real estate development unit — has lined up seven projects this year, mostly in high-rise residential buildings and office space catering to the needs of business process outsourcing (BPO) firms.

Balabac, to be renamed Eton Properties Philippines Inc., unveiled yesterday its planned projects for the year as it seeks to take advantage of a resurgent property market, fueled by robust remittances from overseas Filipino workers and the low interest rate environment.

In a press briefing yesterday, Balabac president Danilo Ignacio said the company’s initial project would be a 39-story high-end residential condominium at the current site of the Philippine Airlines head office in Legaspi Village, Makati City. The PAL office will relocate to Nichols in Pasay City.

The proposed project, sitting on a 1,732 square-meter property across Greenbelt mall, will feature one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units, with prices starting at about P4 million. The entire project is estimated to cost over P1 billion.

Ignacio said Balabac will also develop other properties owned by the Tan Group of Companies which include four lots with an area of about 7,000 square meters located at the Ortigas central business district for middle-income high-rise residential condominium and BPO office building development, and approximately 36 hectares at Mactan Cebu (formerly Coral Reef Resort) for a hotel, residential, leisure and retirement development. All these properties are owned by the Tan-owned Philippine National Bank.

Other projects include a middle-income high-rise residential condominium in a choice lot at the corner of Roxas Boulevard and T.M. Kalaw in Manila, a mixed-use middle-income high-rise residential condominium, hotel, retail and/or BPO office building in a one hectare property located at Pasong Tamo corner Malugay, Makati; a township in a 1,000-hectare property in Sta. Rosa and Cabuyao, Laguna; and another mixed-use building in a 10-hectare property located at EDSA corner Quezon Avenue.

Ignacio said the company is conducting studies on the other properties owned by the group for possible development. The review, he said, could take six months to complete given the vast landbank of the group in the Makati and Ortigas central business districts, Manila/Pasay/Parañaque Bay Area, Mactan Beach, Cabuyao, Calatagan and other strategic locations in the Philippines.

He said the company could not divulge yet how much it is planning to invest in its planned projects pending completion of the review.

Balabac is a listed investment holding company owned by tobacco and liquor taipan Lucio Tan. Its goal is to become one of the leading property developers in the country.

Tan also has extensive property holdings in Hong Kong, China and other parts of Asia. Through Eton Properties (HK), Tan has developed a commercial building in Xiamen, China. Tan also owns Fortune Tobacco Corp., MacroAsia Corp., Asia Brewery Inc., Tanduay Holdings, Philippine National Bank and Allied Banking Corp.